Tyler Lockett was selected as the 69th overall pick of the 2015 National Football League draft’s 3rd round by the Seattle Seahawks as a wide receiver and return specialist to wear the No. 16 shirt of the team. He is from the famous Lockett sports family and he had a stellar high school and varsity football career smashing through several set records of the Wildcats including some of his father’s unbroken records, while setting up a few of his own records in the school’s history books, ending his time there with several dozens of awards to show for his amazing feats as an athlete.
Tyler Lockett’s Bio (Age)
The American footballer was born as Tyler Deron Lockett on September 28, 1992, in Tulsa, Okahalama, United States to African-American Parents. He started his educational pursuit at the Carver Middle School and later went on to attend the Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he fully participated in 3 sporting activities; track, basketball, and football. However, he was prominent for his roles in the basketball and football teams, excelling greatly in both sports and even leading his team to their first Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) championship breaking a 24-year-old jinx.
Although he sustained a broken wrist in the 2nd game of his junior year season, that did not deter him from recording 13 to 1 points and winning the OSSAA 5A championship for his school football team. The feat equally saw him earn several awards like the All-State Defensive Back awards and the All-State Class 5A Wide Receiver awards. Basketball games were not left out in his championship quest; as he equally performed exceptionally well in the team that was named the All-tournament second team and took home a basketball championship trophy in 2011.
As a Sprinter, Tyler Lockett clinched the title in the region for Booker T. Washington in the 100-meter dash finishing in a time of 10.85 seconds while his 10.95 and 21.90seconds track finish time was good enough to earn him additional 3rd place win at the Class 5A finals.
With this wonderful breathtaking records, and great ratings from Rival.com , Scout.com , and ESPN.com , the young Tyler Lockett proceeded to the Kansas State University in 2011 on a sports scholarship where he finally chose football as his solo sports in line with his family tradition. His father Kevin Lockette, and Uncle Aaron had played football themselves back in the day. His father was a wide receiver for the Wildcats but left the school with a set record that was eventually broken by his son Tyler.
He started his freshman year in 2011 with a fair speed but his game later picked up and saw him make history as the first player in his school’s history to return kickoffs for touchdowns in consecutive games and score a career-high 5 receptions for 110 yards receiving day. As though that was not enough, he also earned many Big 12 Conference honors and awards till he was brought down during the regular season, by a lacerated kidney issue excluding him from the team’s 3 final games.
Despite his inability to play his 3 final games, he still got awarded the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the year, second-team All-Big 12 Selection for kickoff, return and punt returns and he also got an honorable mention as a wide receiver. As though that was not enough, the Sporting News, Walter Camp Football Foundation, CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated h onored him as the first team, All-American and second-team All-American respectively, as well as the NCCA All-American and the list goes on.
His feats and exploits across the pitch were unrelenting and outstanding throughout his varsity football career, his final year was not an exception as he entered his senior season as a preseason, All-Big 12 Selection with other numerous awards and recognition. He finished his last season with a resounding record of 249 receptions for 3,710 yards receiving and 29 touchdowns; with 77 kickoff returns for 2,196 yards and 4 touchdowns. His punts were recorded as 32 punt returns for 488 yards and 2 touchdowns while his rushes were 22 for 192 yard rushes earning 6 collegiate career tackles in all.
Furthermore, the talented athlete posted a total of 6,586 career All-yards becoming the Big 12 Conference receiving yards, the nation’s punt return average leader and breaking his father’s longtime set record of 217 catches and 3,032 yards while setting up 17 extra records of his won in the school, thus glorious ending his successful varsity football career in 2015 before he signed up for his 2015 National Football League draft.
His NFL Career
His pick was melodramatic; the Seahawks had to trade off some of their picked players to the Washington Redskin in order to purchase Tyler Lockett’s service during the 2015 NFL pick in the round 3. The pick proved to be a great decision for the franchise. The talented return specialist started his rookie season with very good stats as he featured in his first NFL game against Denver Broncos in a preseason outing scoring 103-yard kicks and a touchdown while his regular season first game saw him record 57-yard punt and a touchdown against the St. Louis Rams. He later set a new franchise record for the team with his 105-yard kick return in his 3rd week in the regular season.
His outstanding field performance got him a lot of recognition such as the NFC Special Teams Player, Joey Galloway awards among others. He continued in his rookie season to score multiple touchdowns and amazing stats on his yards and punt/kicks returns ending the rookie season with a record of 759 All-Purpose yards and winning (back to back) the NFC Special Team Player title, becoming the 2nd player to achieve the feat after Tamarick Vanover in 1995.
He also became the 2nd rookie to boast of 5 receiving touchdowns, punt return touchdowns/kickoff touchdowns after Gale Sayers. He was later named by Associated Press All-Pro as the only rookie first team while he alongside his teammate Thomas Rawls were selected as the NFL All-Rookie Team in 2015, by Pro-Football Writers Association, with Tyler Lockett clearing the 3 positions as a wide receiver, punt returner, and kickoff returner thus beautifully ending the rookie season.
His 2016 season was not a letdown as he scored his team’s longest run of that season with his 114 rushing yards and 75-yard rushing touchdowns. But later in that season, he was hit by an injury bud that saw him undergo corrective surgery on his tibia and fibula in week 16, he still got his first All-Pro Second Team mention while in his 2017 season, he fared better with his posted stats of 3,266 yards return, 137 receptions for 192 yard rushes, with 1,816 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns earning himself his second All-Pro Second Team Mention.
So far in the 2018 season, his contract deal with the Seahawks has been renewed for another 3 years, in the tune of $31.8 million and he has stayed focused, already recording 38 receptions for 554 receiving yards, and 7 touchdowns, while his fantasy point is 102.4 in all 10 games, played with the season yet to end, his total NFL career stats have risen to 175 receptions for 2,370 receiving yards, and 16 touchdowns while averaging 21 points and 379.2 fantasy points in all 57 games played.
Read Also: Who is Samaje Perine, The NFL Running Back? His Wife, Brother, Bio
His Family
The amazing football star is the son of Kevin Lockett and Nicole Edwards and he is the eldest of 3 younger brothers; Sterling Lockett and a set of twin boys, Jacob and Jordan Lockett. He has a rich family based on their athletic prowess and character value system and they are renown sportsmen with a great history.
His mother Nicole Edwards was described as a sprinter with sheer tenacity for success that made her one of the greatest sprinter ever coached by his grandfather John Lockett in the ’90s. His father, on the other hand, was very active in the games of basketball and football at the Booker T. Washington and Kansas State University where he set up 5 records as a leading receiver in the varsity football team in the ’90s before mining the trade professionally. He was picked in the 1997 NFL draft in the 2nd round as the 47th overall pick for the Kansas Chiefs and from thereon, he played football for other 3 franchises before he bowed out of football in 2003 playing for the New York Jets.
His grandparents John and Beatrice Lockett were Petroleum Engineers who had over the years drilled and instilled the right values in their children and grandchildren setting up standards for them to live by both on the field of play and off the pitch. His grandfather was a good sportsman in his early life, playing basketball on scholarship in St. Augustine University and he later had a year foretaste of football before a knee injury punctured the budding career sending him off to war.
His grandparents have taken the long drives in more than 20 years to actively supporting their sons Kevin and his younger brother Aaron who happens to be Tyler’s uncle and also their grandson Tyler while building up the family lore in their home in Tulsa.
Height and Weight
Tyler Lockett stands shoulder to shoulder to his teammate and colleague Doug Baldwin Jnr at a height of 5 ft 10 inches (1.78m) with his frame neatly supported by a weight of 83 kilograms (182lb).